What Is the Best Anti-Fouling Bottom Paint

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by S/V Antares

Dan, Having tried various prop coatings with little success I take mine off and polish it on a buffing wheel to a mirror finish, and paint the hub with the bottom paint de jour. No Barney's on the blades. only a few on the hub. A few scrubs a year seem to work. My gear ratio is 2.05/1 so perhaps lower ratio gears say 3/1 will keep the paint on longer.

Thanks - We just scored a small quantity of some experimental stuff. It went on this week. We'll let you know how it turns out.

[TrawlerEd]

I use the paint made in Ft. Myers because it works best down here!

[BrewGuru]

Originally Posted by nmit5903

Altex No 5 works well in Aussie waters. Single pack so easy enough to apply.

Sydney waters range from 18-21C and it has worked consistently well for us with no need to clean off others than once a year, at the start of the season (Oct).

If we dont install ultrasound (refer other thread) it will be back to Altex No 5.

Cheers
Neil

I sold lot of Altex paints in the 80's, it was called Altex Devoe in those days, a comapny formed by Altex industrial paints of NZ and Devoe Marine (inventors of epoxy)from the States I was head marine paint consultant at the time with clients like Carrington Slipways and some of the ocean going tugs, we use a two coat system commercially, which consisted of a self polishing anti fouling then coated by an ablative system. The plan being once the ablative had serverd its life the self polishing wold take over, we would get up to 3 years commercially with that system

[BrewGuru]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Thanks - We just scored a small quantity of some experimental stuff. It went on this week. We'll let you know how it turns out.

we se stuff down here called prop speed works a treat
propspeed.com

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by BrewGuru

we use a two coat system commercially, which consisted of a self polishing anti fouling then coated by an ablative system.

What's the difference between "self-polishing" and "ablative"? I always thought both terms described the same type of anti fouling.

[BrewGuru]

There is hard antifouling and soft antifouling, their system coomercial was to apply the hard antifouling firts then apply the soft antifouling. Theory being as the critters grew onthe soft stuff they would just fall away, when that system was all used up, the hard antifouling was self polishing, any current or boat movement would remove very little microns of paint there fore nothing had a chance to grow

[StormChaser]

Does anyone have any experience with Interlux Fiberglass Bottomcoat ACT Bottom Paint with Irgarol? Not the regular Bottomcoat...the higher end ACT. I am pulling Saraswati (my new-to-me Hatteras 53) out this coming weekend for bottom paint and would love to know if anyone has any good or bad things to say about it. Hoping to get 16-18 months. Basically I'd like to not haul out again until spring 2010 (get me through this winter plus a year). The boat is kept on the northern Chesapeake Bay in brackish very polluted water (Baltimore) and as live abaords, doesnt go out all THAT often...maybe once a month during the summer.

[StormChaser]

P.S. The "plan" is one coat of red, 2 coats of black, maybe a 4th coat along the water line.

[TrawlerEd]

Check out the hard ablative for $129.95 gallon plus shipping. 62% copper and it claims 18 months per coat in any water.

[JusDreaming]

Originally Posted by georgetheleo

Seahawk sucks

I got three years out of "Seahawk" ablative. And just repainted with it again

[mangomuffins]

Originally Posted by TrawlerEd

Check out the hard ablative for $129.95 gallon plus shipping. 62% copper and it claims 18 months per coat in any water.

let's see... 25 years of sailing left in me...17 coats and I should NEVER have to repaint the bottom again

Such a deal...

mm

[TrawlerEd]

Three years with how many coats? What did you pay for Seahawk? I just sold my boat with a whole bunch of Trinidad on the bottom and the surveyor gigged me for a few chips falling off here and there, said it looked like a moonscape. I was thinking about suing the idiot for the price of removing the paint but I just knocked a couple of g's off the price and away it went.

I don't want to fall into that trap again because I think my new/used trawler will be my last boat so I don't ever want to scrap/sand/sandblast it's bottom EVER!

I'm an ex-sailboater, recovering sailor or a born cheapster so that $129.95 price per gallon sounds better all the time.

[JusDreaming]

Originally Posted by TrawlerEd

Three years with how many coats? What did you pay for Seahawk?
I'm an ex-sailboater, recovering sailor or a born cheapster so that $129.95 price per gallon sounds better all the time.

It was done with a primer coat then two coats of Seahawk. I only lightly sanded before painting but I think the bottom prep is the key. The paint cost approx. 200 per gallon

[donradcliffe]

If you want to know what works in your area, don't ask this forum--walk the docks in your marina and talk to the owners of the boats with the clean bottoms.

For example of how growth varies, we put on Micron Extra in October last year and 3 months later in Trinidad, the growth was out of control--both hard and spongy growth. After 4 months and 3 scrapings in the tropics we went to Newport in June and all the growth simply fell off. After a summer in Maine we hit the Chesapeake a few weeks ago and I went over the side to take a look, and there was only a light slime near the waterline.

Another variable, especially with ablative paints, is how often you sail your boat. Ablative baints don't do well when the boat sits in a marina for weeks at a time, and you are probably better off with a paint with a controlled leaching process.

I have seen several boats who had the copper epoxy bottoms, and all had returned to traditional bottom paint after 2 years of scrubbing and scraping in the tropics.

Jotun makes some reasonable paints, but a few years back they reformulated the Sea Queen into something shiny. I didn't try it, but heard that boats in Thailand were having problems. Left the area before a lot of people had had it on for a year, so didn't get very good feedback.

[avazquez]

Originally Posted by Wahoo Sails

.... but the Petit rep tells me that their new "Vivids" paint will give it a real run for it's money. No cuprous oxide ... uses two types of biocides (great news for people with metal hulls) they have tested it on power & sailboats at FMB for more than 2 years, with good results .... and .... it comes in bright rainbow colors. Plan to do my bottom job in bright yellow to mach the canvas!
Bob

I tried VIVID and it was a total disaster in the caribbean. It is like fertilizer for the green algae. It may work in powerboats that move a lot faster so the algae falls by itself. Others that have tried it here in the caribbean have had similar BAD results.